


Warm Memories

by Moebius



Category: All My Children
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 19:38:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/299331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moebius/pseuds/Moebius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A glance into the lives of Bianca and Marissa as Christmas approaches.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warm Memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Daytonagirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daytonagirl/gifts).



> Many thanks to my writing partner, who cheered me on at the end and then volunteered to beta for me.
> 
> The title is from the movie _An Affair to Remember_ : "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories."

The holiday season, like nearly every day in Pine Valley, is a spectacle the likes of which most of the world would neither imagine nor wish to emulate. It’s part of what makes Pine Valley wonderful and unique, with every lamp ringed with wreaths and every house sporting at least one piece of decoration. Over the years, Christmas has made space for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Solstice, and any other festivity that the residents of the town want to celebrate.

The Montgomery-Tasker house on Crescent and Park is no exception. Bianca Montgomery was, after all, raised by one of the most ostentatious women in the history of humanity. She knows how to decorate, Kane-style. And though Marissa Tasker’s upbringing may have been more modest, it was no less festive.

And so, despite the fact that they had plenty of unpacking, organizing, and home decorating to do once they were finally able to move into their home in October, everything slowed down as the holiday season began in earnest. Bianca and Marissa, along with Miranda, Gabby, and AJ, went to pick out their tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.

That tree, which is now properly decorated and sitting in the corner of their living room, has become Marissa’s favorite part of the house. She’s standing in front of it now, arms crossed, staring thoughtfully into the blown glass ornament that Tad gave them as a gift. She’s deep enough in her thoughts that she doesn’t hear Bianca come into the room.

Bianca has just tucked the kids in, well past their bed time. Rules get bent a little around Christmas. She sneaks up behind Marissa and wraps her arms around the smaller woman’s waist, placing a small kiss on her ear. “Hey. Why so mopey, miss? It’s our first Christmas together.”

“I know. I know, it’s just - “

“With everything that’s happened, it’s hard to put on your Santa hat?”

“Sorta.”

“Believe me, I understand.” Bianca has had her share of disastrous holidays. And regular days. “I feel like I’m the one who - “

Marissa cuts her off with a shake of her head. She knows Bianca was about to take on the blame when, really, it’s nobody’s fault. Well, it’s JR’s fault, but there’s nothing that either of them can do about it now. “I wish it would snow.”

“I’m not too sure I caught the transition...”

“It’s our first Christmas together, and I want to kiss you in the snow.”

Bianca smiles and shakes her head. Not for the first time, she wonders how she ended up with such a perfect life. She thinks about the people she’s known and the loves she’s lost, all loves that she thought would last forever. Every one of them brought her here, to this moment, to a house - _her_ house - in Pine Valley, children sleeping in their rooms upstairs, and the woman she loves resting in her arms.

“What?”

“Nothing. You’re perfect.” She leans down and picks up some tinsel, throwing it over them. It falls quickly, and some lands in Marissa’s hair, silver strands standing out against red, glinting in the candlelight. “Will that do?”

Marissa’s smile answers the question. She turns and wraps her arms around Bianca’s waist, pulling her in close, standing on her toes to kiss her softly. “That will do perfectly.”

“In that case, I think there’s a bed upstairs with our names on it.”

“Oh?” Marissa bites her lip. Bianca knows what that means. “I don’t know. There’s something romantic about making love in front of the Christmas tree.”

“Sure, until the kids come down for their presents...”

“Which isn’t for two days.”

“And then there’s the floor...”

“Which is super comfortable, remember?”

Bianca blushes, remembering their first night in their new home, before they moved the kids from the hotel. “Super comfortable. I guess I should know better than to argue with my girlfriend the lawyer.”

“Mmmhm. Now are you going to get me out of this robe, or am I going to have to do it myself?”

“Well when you put it that way...” Bianca’s fingers deftly untie the knot at Marissa’s waist, and the robe falls into a pool at her feet. Anything she had been planning to say falls out of her mind. “You’re so beautiful.”

Now it’s Marissa’s turn to blush. “I love you, Bianca.”

“I love you, too. Now are _you_ going to get _me_ out of my robe, or...”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

The next morning, the family is gathered at the breakfast table for a big Christmas Eve Day Morning Feast, a Tasker family tradition. Miranda puts her spoon down and looks at Bianca thoughtfully. “Mom? We’re not in Paris, but can we get La Galette De Rois?”

Marissa looks between Bianca and Miranda. “La Galette De Rois? What is that?”

“It’s a cake... usually served in January. Inside the cake is a charm. And whoever gets the charm in their slice of cake gets to be the king - “

“Or queen!”

Both Bianca and Marissa smile at Gabby’s insistence on equality. “Right, what Gabby said. King _or queen_. They get a crown, and get to be king _or queen_ for a day, and choose their partner in royalty. And then the next year, they make or buy the cake for everyone.”

AJ, whose face lit up the moment someone mentioned king, chimes in. “I want to be king!”

“Of course,” Bianca nods. “If you get la feve, you can be le roi, AJ.”

“Coooool.”

“If AJ is le roi, he has to choose me for queen.” Miranda seems fairly pleased with her statement, and crosses her arms over her chest, daring anyone to disagree.

Naturally, AJ disagrees. “Do not!”

“Do too! It’s not fair.”

“Okay, you two.” Part of Bianca is happy that AJ and Miranda are acting like brother and sister. Part of her. “We won’t even get the cake until after New Year’s. No fighting about it now.”

Miranda and AJ shrug, as though Bianca is the one being silly, and go back to their cereal. Gabby, situated firmly on Marissa’s lap, leans over to tug her mother’s sleeve. “Mommy?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Who do you choose?”

Bianca smiles. “I choose you, baby girl.”

“But ‘Rissa?”

“What about me, sweetheart?”

“Mommy chooses you!”

Marissa and Bianca both smile, and their eyes meet for a quick moment. “I do.”

“I do too,” Marissa answers, her voice barely above a whisper.

They share a small kiss. Outside, it begins to snow.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still sad about the non!ending of All My Children, so I see this story as a little bit of a "life goes happily on" catharsis. I don't try to imagine where the show would have gone if it had continued online, but in my head JR shot himself and saved us all the trouble. Ahem.
> 
> Apologies if I messed up the tradition of the cake... I was going from memory and the internet.


End file.
